By JOCELYN ASPA

The recent house fire that broke out in Marpole, destroying everything inside and leaving 11 people home-

less, has left one of the residents ques-tioning the process of getting tenants’ insurance.

An online crowd-funding campaign has been set up to help the victims get back on their feet. The housemates did not have tenants’ insurance. Sean Harten, one of the tenants since Sept. 2014, said that since none of them are related they would have had to pay a premium for insurance.

“When you’re in a situation like this [with roommates], tenants’ insurance isn’t easy to get,” he said.

Leonard Sharman, senior advisor in media relations at The Co-operators Group Limited, ac-knowledged that one reason young renters typically don’t buy insur-ance is because they think it’s too expensive.

“I find [their de-cision is] often based on a false as-sumption about overall cost,” said Sharman. “If you ask them to add up what it would cost to replace every-thing they own, they’ll come to re-alize their stuff is valuable and worth

protecting.”Harten, who produces music, said he

kept his equipment at home because renting a studio would be too costly. He said he lost about $14,000 in equipment.

Sharman said renters should be pro-active and learn about getting insur-ance because it’s not as difficult as it seems.

“The more that can be done to get young people to understand the value of insurance, the better,” he said. “It can save you from financial devasta-tion.”

Many Langara College students live at home, but not everyone who is rent-ing has tenants’ insurance. Tenzin Yangchen, a first year nursing student, said she’d consider it.

“It’s probably a good idea to have [an insurance plan] in case anything bad happens,” she said.

See langaravoice.ca for exclusive video!

Printed on recycled paper Check out our web exclusives at http://langaravoice.ca/

PRODUCED BY LANGARA JOURNALISM STUDENTS MARCH 12, 2015 • VOL. 47 NO. 22 • VANCOUVER, B.C.

Leonard nimoy’s Legacy Lives on...........................5Members of Langara’s literary community reflect on the lasting impact of science fiction

theVoiceCheck us out online at

langaravoice.ca

This week look for special

features on Bill C-51,

Langara men’s basketball,

and a backstage look at

the Metro Theatre.

Young activist makes waves

By KELVIN GAWLEY

A folk musician and documentary filmmaker is using his art as a tool in the environmental move-ment, and is coming to Langara

College on March 12 to screen his docu-mentary, One Big Coast.

Last summer, Luke Wallace traveled to Kitimat, B.C. to film scenery and in-terview locals about resistance to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project. Wallace hopes that his work will in-spire more people to be active environ-mentalists.

Wallace said he decided to make the film during his geography degree at UBC, where he learned about the soci-etal shifts needed to stop climate

change. “We sit around in university every

day and don’t do anything about it,” he said. “I got extremely tired of that.”

He said he has been approached af-ter screenings of his film by people in-spired to join protests against Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Expansion Project on Burnaby Mountain, the En-bridge Northern Gateway Project and TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline.

Wallace sees successful resistance as watershed moments that will stop future project proposals.

He’s correct in believing that music and art can affect real change, accord-ing to Andrea Smith, history instructor at Langara who also sings and plays folk songs as a hobby.

In Canada, the union movement, women’s movement, and Quebec sepa-ratists have all successfully used music as a recruitment tool, Smith said.

“The effect that a simple song can have on the world is real and tangible,” she said.

Kalle Lasn, co-founder and editor-in-chief at Adbusters—a magazine that has championed leftist politics since 1989—said artists like Wallace are vital to political movements.

Lasn said his magazine moved away from straightforward factual reporting and toward more artistic and subjec-tive ways of spreading their message after 20 years of publishing.

“The real battleground is aesthet-ics,” he said.

KELVIN GAWLEY photoLuke Wallace sings folk songs about environmental issues and wrote the soundtrack to his new documentary.

One artist hopes to inspire new environmentalists in B.C.

Household without tenants’ insurance hit by fire A group of 11 students and artists in Marpole lost everything in the blaze

JOCELYN ASPA photoJ’nette Barnes and Sean Harten, two of the 11 victims in the Marpole fire that occurred on Feb. 24, 2015.

Your mental health siteLSU provides more tools to help students with stress and psychological issues

By DUSTIN GODFREY

Langara College students won’t need to worry about news that the federal government will now tax

mental health assessments, thanks to an addition to students’ benefits through the Langara Students’ Union.

In 2013, the federal budget outlined the change, but until a recent consulta-tion by the Canada Revenue Agency, it was unclear whether the tax included mental health assessments.

In a press release earlier this month, the Canadian Psychological Associa-tion lamented the government’s move as being a barrier for Canadians seek-ing psychological care.

“[Assessments] lead to treatment recommendations and ultimately to treatment,” CPA chief executive offi-cer Dr. Karen Cohen said. “An assess-ment of a health condition always has a health purpose.”

This is one reason that, in 2014, the LSU added myWellness to the roster of health services offered through the union’s insurance provider. MyWell-ness is a mental health program stu-dents can access online that includes an anonymous mental health assess-ment.

In a written statement, LSU spokes-person Benjamin Friesen said that the new benefit is unique from what is al-ready offered through the counselling department.

“We think the on-campus college departments delivering mental health services do a good job,” Friesen said.

“We look forward to continued col-laboration with the college to promote mental health and wellness.”

“The effect that a simple song can have on the world is real and tangible

ANDREA SMITHLangara history instructor

“It’s prob-ably a good idea to have [an insurance plan] in case any-thing bad happens

TENZIN YANGCHAN

NURSING STUDENT

JOURN

ALI

SM

News 2 EDITOR NICH JOHANSENTHE VOICE, THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015

By JAMES SMITH

The founder of a Vancouver mu-nicipal politics advocacy group alleges the public consultation process for the rezoning of Ma-

rine Gardens was “hijacked” by advo-cates for the development and real es-tate industry.

Marine Gardens sits at 445 SW Ma-rine Drive and consists of 70 townhous-es. Vancouver city council approved a rezoning application for the property, which will see the existing townhouses torn down and replaced with two large towers, with 584 units.

Randy Helten, founder and coordina-tor of CityHallWatch Media Founda-tion, said individuals in the develop-ment and real estate industry wrote 27 of the 49 letters sent in as part of the public consultation for the rezoning process. Helten said that employees of Prompton Real Estate Services Inc. wrote 11 of those letters.

According to Prompton’s website, they are “agents of Concord Pacific Canada,” and currently manage Ma-rine Gardens. Concord Pacific Develop-ments Inc. is the owner of the property and proponent of the rezoning applica-tion.

Susan Haid, assistant director of planning for Vancouver - South with the City of Vancouver, said in an email, “the public hearing provides the oppor-tunity for those who deem themselves affected by or having an interest in the proposed bylaw to provide input.”

Haid said that when reviewing input, “consideration is made of various as-pects such as who the input is from, whether in support or opposition, the form of input, etc.”

She added public hearings for Ma-rine Gardens “occurred in accordance with the required process.”

Helten said influence from people with special interests or associated with proponents of rezoning applica-tions is very common, and that in the majority of cases, they don’t disclose their affiliations with the industry.

The problem, said Helten, is a lack of checks and balances.

“You could actually create an ac-count with Gmail and send in a letter supporting the rezoning, and the city will post that and count that,” Helten said. “The city’s purpose is to put the public interest first, and they could probably make better decisions if they put a little bit more effort into analyz-ing where the support is coming from.”

Public consultation questionedMarine Gardens public feedback process was allegedly hijacked

By OWEN MUNRO

Over 100 academics across the coun-try sent an open letter to the Cana-dian Parliament on Feb. 23 in op-

position of Bill C-51, the federal government’s anti-terror legislation. Absent from the list of names in opposi-tion to the bill, however, were Langara College faculty.

The letter expresses “deep concern that Bill C-51 is a dangerous piece of legislation in terms of its potential im-pacts on the rule of law.” The reason no Langara College professors were on the letter was that most of the signa-tures were from law faculty across the country, which Langara does not have.

A national day of action will be held across Canada on Mar. 14 in protest of the proposed bill. In Vancouver, there will be a protest at the Vancouver Art Gallery starting at noon.

The lack of Langara faculty on the letter doesn’t mean there isn’t criticism from Langara instructors. Stephen Phillips, a political science instructor at Langara, said he didn’t know of the let-ter, but he would have signed it. He is skeptical as to why the Canadian Secu-rity Intelligence Service (CSIS) needs more power. He questioned the lack of evidence put for-ward that shows how the authori-ty of intelligence and police ser-vices are lacking in curtailing ter-rorist activities and recruiting in Canada.

“In the ab-sence of any co-gent evidence on that point, Canadians are justified in raising serious questions,” Phillips said. “Evidence needs to be put forward to show specifically how the existing powers are lacking, and how particular threats couldn’t be met under existing provisions.”

Paul Prosperi, department chair of Langara’s history, Latin and political science department, agreed with Phil-lips’ assessment of CSIS. He said the wording of the bill makes it very vague as to who is a threat to Canada, refer-encing the protection of “critical infra-structure” in relation to the economic stability of Canada.

“Does that mean environmental pro-tests? Does it mean the Bloc Québécois, because it threatens the sovereignty or security or territorial integrity of Cana-da?” Prosperi said.

Niall Christie, a history instructor at Langara and Islamic studies scholar, has followed the unfolding of terrorist activities and governments’ responses to them. He said that while he would have to read the letter in more depth to make a decision on signing it, legisla-tion such as Bill C-51 often tends to have different consequences than the government intends.

He said that Islamic extremists at-tack foreign powers with the hopes of getting governments to enact legisla-tion such as Bill C-51. This type of legis-lation can make Muslims feel disaffect-ed, making them more vulnerable to recruitment from terrorist organiza-tions. Phillips said that fast tracking important legislative changes has be-come the “modus operandi,” or method of operation, employed by Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada.

“You’re inevitably going to have con-stitutional challenges launched,” Phil-lips said. “That’s not a good way to make public policy.”

Bill faces resistanceBill C-51 has received criti-cism from academics, in-cluding those at Langara

STEPHEN PHILLIPSPolitical science instructor

By JAMES SMITH

Residents of Marine Gardens are looking for new homes now that the city has approved the redevel-

opment of their South Vancouver af-fordable housing complex.

On Feb. 26, Vancouver city council approved plans to replace the existing 70 affordable townhouses at 445 SW Marine Drive with 514 market residen-tial units and 70 market rental units.

“The city really needs to be called to the carpet for what I see as the legal and procedural mishandling of the Ma-rine Gardens case,” said Jillian Skeet, a twelve-year resident of Marine Gar-dens. “Neighbourhoods are being radi-cally changed, people are being forced

out.”Concord Pacific Developments Inc.,

the project’s developer, gave residents a “tenant relocation package,” which includes reimbursement for moving expenses and assistance in finding new affordable housing as well as the op-tion to move into the new rental units upon completion of the project.

Concord Pacific did not respond to requests for comment before press time.

Skeet said the package fails to ad-dress the lack of affordable housing, adding that a three-bedroom apart-ment in the new development will cost $2,100 per month, nearly double what she currently pays.

“Once you’ve actually covered your moving expenses and given your dam-age deposit and so on, you’ve got assis-tance for maybe four to six months,” Skeet said. “You simply can’t move somewhere where you cannot afford the rent over the long term.”

Marcela Escobar, a six-year resident,

said Concord Pacific did residents a fa-vour with the tenant relocation pack-age.

“The package is a bonus,” Escobar said. “I came with nothing and I could have left with nothing.”

Although she’s grateful for the pack-age, Escobar said it’s still not enough to be able to stay in Vancouver.

“I’d like to know what they consider affordable housing,” Escobar said. “I’m [working] 40 hours a week and kind of not making it.”

Two-year resident Doreen King said very few of her neighbours will be able to afford to live in the new develop-ment.

“Without the relocation program, I would end up homeless,” she said.

Skeet believes the city failed to pro-tect affordable housing, pursuing plans for densification despite the public’s concerns.

“The value of the city really comes from the people, not from the build-ings,” Skeet said.

Tenants worried about their housing future

Residents of Marine Gar-dens are concerned about where they will go once higher-rent towers arrive

JAMES SMITH photoThe current townhouses at Marine Gardens provide 70 units of affordable housing. They will be torn down and replaced with towers.

1 Two months of free

rent

2 First right of refusal

to rent new units

3 20 per cent dis-

count on first rent

agreement for new

units

4 Reimbursement for

moving expenses

5 Assistance in find-

ing other housing

Source: Vancity Buzz

TENANTrelocation

JAMES SMITH photoVancouver city council approved rezoning for the Ma-rine Gardens development on Feb. 26

Campus news 3EDITOR KERA PIWOWARSKI-SKOCYLAS THE VOICE, THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015

Employment day is coming to LangaraStudents questioning their future career paths can visit booths to explore opportunities

MICHAEL LYLYK photosOn March 17, Langara College students will have the opportunity to speak with potential employers about numerous job possibilities for after graduation.

By MICHAEL LYLYK

Langara College’s upcoming stu-dent employment day will give those who are confused about their future career possibilities

the chance to explore jobs they may not have considered.

The event takes place on March 17 in Building A. There will be companies such as Telus, Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada and the Van-couver Airport Authority setting up booths for students to visit.

“A lot of students, they may not be quite sure what they’re going into.

They may not have even de-clared a major yet,” said Caro-lyn Bourcier, Langara’s coor-dinator for em-ployment day.

Langara cre-ative writing stu-dent, Thea Tam-bogon said she is concerned about finding a career after college.

“I’m absolutely terrified if there’s go-

ing to be a career for me afterwards. Writing is one of those things I’ve loved doing since I was little,” Tambogon said. “I feel unclear on where it will go.”

Bourcier said it is important for stu-dents to start thinking about their ca-reer and what they are going to do when they finish school.

“Once they have a clear view of where they want to go, they want to look at the varieties in that field,” she said.

Career counsellor Rachel Newton of Life Career Studio said the benefit of having an employment day is to help

students get a better idea of what they need.

“A way to get them workforce ready is by getting them comfortable with employers,” Newton said.

Langara kinesiology student Emily Ip said in the past few years she has considered a range of career paths, from being a pastry chef to a physical education teacher. She is hoping the employment fair will showcase jobs geared toward her area of study, she said.

“I have felt confused about my path,” Ip said. “I will definitely check out the booths if I’m on campus.”

“I have felt confused about my path

EMILY IP

LANGARAKINESOLOGY

STUDENT

The LSC hopes to raise nearly $2,000 to fund three scholarships for Langara College students

Campus club holds fundraiser

By BRYAN MC GOVERN

The male representative of the education council at Langara Col-lege has already been selected

while two candidates are still running for the female position in the election race.

Voting for the female representative takes place between March 10 and 16 on the Internet-based hub myLangara. The male and females representatives will provide a student voice to matters regarding curriculum and academic policy at Langara, said Gerda Krause, education council chair.

Susan Smith, education council sec-retary, said in an email that Jarrod Zhang is the student male representa-tive.

“He ran unopposed, so was elected by acclamation,” she said.

The two female candidates are Jus-tine Yiu and Mankirat Kaur.

In her candidate statement Yiu said she “is interested in understanding more of the procedural side in how our curriculum and academic standing gov-erns our options at Langara.”

Kaur said in her candidate statement that she wants to learn and share how the education system works.

There are a total of four elected stu-dent representatives in this council.

Zhang and the elected female repre-sentative will join current student members Tyler Petersen and Emily Rowlandson.

By XIAO XU

Unlike most scholarships where money is donated, the Langara Social Club (LSC) in partnership

with a marketing class at Langara Col-lege is hosting an event to raise funds for several scholarships.

The upcoming event is called March Mystery Madness and will be held at the For-tune Sound Club on March 14. This is the third year the LSC and the special events planning and mar-keting class have worked together to set up fundraising events. The orga-nizers aim to raise $1,800 for three students from the spe-cial events class, each receiving $600, according to Genevieve Fontanilla, president of the LSC.

“The LSC wants to host the event to continue our mission of creating a stronger community and culture at Langara,” she said.

XIAO XU photoOn March 10, members from the Langara Social Club sell tickets for the upcoming fundraiser.

Fontanilla said if they raise more than their goal, the extra money will go into a fund for the next semester. If they raise less than the goal, they will lower the amount for each student. Last year, she said, they raised enough to provide three students with $400 scholarships.

“This event is a great way for stu-dents to unwind, network, and get to know other students — while also sup-porting a scholarship fund for their fel-low students, which is what the LSC is all about,” Fontanilla said.

Eyren Uggenti, vice-president of operations of the LSC said, the recipi-ents of the LSC scholarship will be evaluated by Erin Wilkins, instructor of the special events planning and mar-keting class.

Candidates are evaluated on their teamwork contributions and efforts

during the class, Uggenti said.Besides the ticket sales of the event,

funds also come from sponsors and other LSC activities such as selling Krispy Kreme doughnuts on campus.

Fontanilla said many sponsors have made contributions for the event, in-cluding Victoria’s Secret, Starbucks and GradsLikeMe.

Paul Brar, CEO and co-founder of GradsLikeMe, said they have contrib-uted two gift cards that worth $100 in total.

“For us, it’s giving back to the com-munity,” Brar said.

The March Mystery Madness event is 19+ and tickets costs $15 each.

“There will be variety of entertain-ment and giveaways throughout the evening, and a high profile DJ will be the main act for the evening,” Fontanilla said.

EYREN UGGENTIVice-president of operations for the LSC

LSU GLAM NIGHTMarch 18

4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Free styling and makeup,

LSU Building

VIDEO GAMESCOMPETITIONMarch 20

11:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Stop by for a video games

competition

LSU Building

JUST FILM FESTIVALMarch 20 - 22

Langara campus

EVENTSon campus

1 Be prepared to

show what you can

offer a company

2 Bring your resume

and cover letter

addressed to

specific employers

3 Dress to impress

Source: Langara event leaflet

TIPSto get hired

Vote for new female rep The education council at Langara College has two candidates running for the female student position

By TONY SU

Metropolitan Theatre Coopera-tive Society’s (Metro Theatre) upcoming production, Go Back

For Murder, is a murder mystery that will remind the audience that the ac-cused are innocent until proven guilty.

The play, written in 1960 by Agatha Christie, is an adaptation of her novel, Five Little Pigs and will hit the the-atre’s stage on March 21. It is about a daughter trying to clear her mother’s name who was found guilty of murder-ing her father.

Joe Hinks, director of the play, said he isn’t looking to change the play

drastically. “I try to give my actors a fair amount

of freedom so they can bring their own interpretations,” Hinks said.

Sachi Lovatt will be playing the pro-tagonist in the play. It’s her first play with Metro Theatre. She will be starring in two different roles: the daughter, Carla and the mother, Caroline. Lovatt said Christie’s in-tention was for the actor to play both roles.

“It is a challenge to play both, I have to make choices that [distinguish] them from each other,” Lovatt said. “What they’re like, and how they move,

because I’m the same person.”Hinks said the play takes place in

two separate time periods, in the 1960s and in the 1940s and to distinguish that on stage, they are using different cos-tumes and lighting.

“The past will have a lighter tone and the present is actually darker,” Hinks said.

Shizuka Sato, the costume designer, said she went through Metro’s ward-robe to find the proper costume for the two time periods.

“I searched the library and internet to [learn] how to choose [costumes],” Sato said.

Sato said she also made two addi-tional costumes for the character An-gela Warren.

With less than two weeks left, Hinks and his cast are close to finishing up rehearsal.

See langaravoice.ca for exclusive video

ntertainment4 THE DAILY VOICE, THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015 EDITOR SABLEEN MINHAS E

By DUSTIN GODFREY

A Langara College graduate is producing a documentary that will focus on dispelling HIV related myths for an upcoming

contest.Joella Cabalu is directing Leap of

Faith in partnership with the non-prof-it Positive Women’s Network Society — a group providing support for HIV-positive women — in the hopes of winning the Play it Forward contest by Cineworks Independent Filmmakers Society.

“The purpose of the film [is] to challenge people’s perceptions of what kind of person gets HIV,” said Cabalu.

“I think the common perception is that it’s only an issue that relates to gay people, to people who live on the streets, to sex workers.”

Cabalu said the film centres on the life of one woman known only in the film by her first name, Heidi.

Heidi is professional and healthy so Cabalu said she feels that the general population will be surprised that she’s HIV-positive.

For people like Heidi, social stigmas

surrounding the virus can make publicizing one’s HIV status daunting, she said.

“This was essentially [Heidi’s] leap of faith of being public about her HIV status.”

Bronwyn Barrett, support programs coordinator of the non-profit, said the project’s creative direction has been left up to Cabalu, as per contest guide-lines.

“It was really a matter of trusting her as a documentary filmmaker to put that forward,” Barrett said.

“We were just very lucky that she put together [a pitch] that was really brilliant.”

In an email response, Cineworks programs manager Jem Noble said they were attracted to the theme of altering perceptions in Cabalu’s pitch.

He said they were confident from Joella’s previous documentary work that “she could handle complex subject matter with necessary skill.”

“As an organization with 20 years’ experience supporting HIV-positive women in B.C., we felt Positive Wom-en’s Network was a great place for Joella’s talent to be put to great use.”

Grad makes movie on HIV stigmasJoella Cabalu’s short documentary is part of Play it Forward campaign video contest

CLAIRE INGLIS photoJoella Cabalu (right) with the cast and crew of her documentary at Vancouver AIDS Memorial.

TRACY-LYNN CHERNSAKE photoFrom costumes to lighting, everything in the play will replicate the 1960s and 1940s as the plot juggles between the two time periods.

South Vancouver’s Metro Theatre is rehearsing for its latest production writ-ten by Agatha Christie

Metro to showcase retro mystery

Langara to host Just Film Fest33 films on a variety of international and local is-sues set for screening

By MONA BUTLER

The Just Film Festival, B.C.’s largest social justice film festival, will be held at Langara College again this

year from March 20 to 22. The festival will showcase 33 films on

a range of local and international is-sues and will be shown in the Langara auditoriums in Building A.

Erin Mullan, festival coordinator with CoDevelopment Canada said the

goal of the festival is to inspire people to push for social change in their com-munity.

Mullan said it can be difficult to spread the word about the festival.

“We live in a world where people are isolated, watch-ing things on little screen and we want to bring those peo-ple together.”

Each year, the fes-tival features films made by Langara alumni. Coni Martin, a documentary film production gradu-ate, is one of them.

Her documentary, My Favourite Leg, features Paralympic athlete Andrea Holmes and her four

different prosthetic legs one for daily activities, a carbon fibre model for run-ning, one that is waterproofed for swimming and her favourite, one for wearing high-heels.

“Andrea is an example that you can overcome your struggles and reach your highest goals, if you try hard enough,” said Martin.

“I try to give my actors a fair amount of freedom, so they can bring their own inter-pretations

JOE HINKS

DIRECTOR AT METRO THEATRE

SACHI LOVATTActor at Metro Theatre

MARCH 20- Resistencia: The Fight

for the Aguan Valley at 7

p.m.

MARCH 21- The Revolutionary

Optimists at 1:15 p.m.

- Uyghurs: Prisoners of

the Absurd at 4:30 p.m.

- Marmato at 2:30 p.m.

MARCH 22- Langara Student Film

Festival at 12:15 p.m.

- Vessel at 1:30 p.m.

- Alive Inside at 3:30 p.m.

Source: www.justfilm.org

FILMSto watch

Lifestyles 5

By JULIA WICKHAM

Ja y m e D u n n h a s

made a name for herself in the pho-

tography industry at an early age.

The 19-year-old, Langara College stu-dent has already been recognized by the B.C. branch of the Professional Photogra-phers of Canada for her photography.

“There are so many things you can do with photography and that’s one of the reasons why I love it so much - the possi-bilities are literally endless,” said Dunn.

Dunn said that her family is one of the reasons why she was inspired to pursue photography.

“My grandparents used to be photog-raphers in Penticton and they owned a photography studio. My mom worked for B.C.’s Professional Photographers of Canada for 10 years, so I’ve always kind of been around it,” she said.

She was awarded Student Award Com-mercial category and Student Photogra-pher of the Year for her photograph,

“Snowbirds Flying High,” at the associa-tion’s Image Salon awards in the fall of 2014.

Dunn said the winning photograph was taken a couple of years ago at the Abbotsford International Airshow.

“I took pictures of the Snowbirds and it’s of them in a formation going up with their trail behind them.”

Her desire to study photography brought her to Langara, where she entered the photography program.

Langara photography instructor, Eric Stewart said he thinks that Dunn has lived up to the high expectations of winning this award.

“Jayme is a hard working and creative student,” he said.

Dunn said she enjoys playing with different lighting techniques and practicing her skills on Adobe Photo-shop.

Dunn said she’s also devel-oped a love of travel photography.

“I love Europe — Prague and Norway are probably my favourite to photograph,” she said.

Dunn has entered an-other profes-sional photog-r a p h y competition for the spring and this time at the nation-al level.

EDITOR MEL EDGAR THE VOICE, THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015

Sci-fi lives long and prospersIn the wake of Leonard Nimoy’s passing, Langara College Trekkies speak about how the genre helps them dream of a better future

By REBECCA PHAIR

The Legacy of the late Leonard Ni-moy will live on in science fiction fans, whose imaginations travel optimistically through the final

frontier to find a brighter future.The excitement of endless possibili-

ties in the world of science fiction, serves as a much-needed break from reality.

As a creative outlet, science fiction is believed, by many fans, as a way to look outside the constraints of what is thought possible by today’s standards.

According to Julia Perroni of Langa-ra Writers’ Club, “[Star Trek] was just the future instead of some magical

world that will never exist, people [can] grab onto it as a symbol of possibility.”

By showcasing the first interracial kiss, Star Trek provoked new age think-ing. In light of Nimoy’s passing, science fiction fans are re-embracing the diver-sity, incredible technology and amaz-ing adventure featured in the series, Perroni said.

“Most of the sentiment about sci-fi [is] just glee about how freeing it is as a genre,” Perroni said. She said although grounded in realism, the ability of sci-fi to bring anything to life through film and literature, is what makes it stand-out against other genres.

“It’s not magic. The worlds that sci-fi imagines, are things that could actually

happen,” she said. Opposed to negativity sometimes

found in the news or other literature, sci-fi provides a glimmer of hope for humanity, said Deborah Blacklock, an English instructor at Langara College.

Many students are inspired to open their minds to seemingly intangible possibilities and through that find com-fort in the future, she said.

Sci-fi opened many doors to the con-cept of imaginative possibility allowing both reader and writer to imagine whatever they want, said Perroni.

“That’s what sci-fi is, really, or at least what it can be,” she said.

In Spock’s immortal words, sci-fi will “live long and prosper.”

REBECCA PHAIR photoStar Trek Fans in the Langara Students’ Union Building giving the traditional Vulcan salute in tribute to Nimoy.

“The worlds that sci-fi imagines, are things that could actually happen

JULIA PERRONI

LANGARA WRITERS’ CLUB

1 Communicators Early flip-phones

were modeled after

Star Trek communi-

cators

2 Universal Translators Well, technically no,

but we’re on the

way with Google

Translate

3 Geordi’s VISOR At Stanford Univer-

sity, scientists used

bionic chips to help

a visually impared

rat see

4 The PADD Now Trekkies and

non-Trekkies alike

use iPads and

tablet computers

Source: Mashable and

How Stuff Works

Star Trekinventions

With Apple Watches on the way, e-watches maybecome a lifestyle trend

By ALEXANDER HOEGLER

Be it for managing health or making better connections with the world, wearable electronics offer many

benefits and are emerging as a new life-style trend.

With Apple about to release its Ap-ple Watch on the 24th of April, Langara College students discussed if wearable technology was useful in their daily lives, even though it could cause dis-tractions.

Pamela Wong, a third-year nursing student, uses two wearable technology gadgets. “One is the Nike FuelBand. It’s a sports watch. When you wear it around your wrist, it will count the steps you took in a day, and the calories you burned,” Wong said.

“The other one is a Sony Smart-Watch. It’s mainly used for smart-phones,” said Wong. “You can text from the watch, or read messages from the watch, go on Facebook and use Twit-ter.”

However, Wong said she believes the distractions they cause and other factors don’t make wearables so useful. “I stopped using them for a while be-cause they [complicate] your daily life. Other than your smartphone, you’re carrying another gadget. You have to charge more batteries,” Wong said.

Renee Ly, a first year general scienc-es student has never used wearable technology, but said she expects to do so soon. “I’d like to purchase one. I want to buy it because it would help me keep my heart rate, make sure I’m get-ting my exercise,” Ly said.

Nicky Wood, a first-year nursing stu-dent, also wears a smartwatch, which she said provides plenty of help for her. “I have a smart MetaWatch. I thought it did more than it actually does.”

She said it doesn’t help her manage her health, and doesn’t believe smart watches are necessary.

“I don’t think there’s a need for smart watches. In terms of your messages and phone calls, it’s redundant because your phone is probably in your pocket.”

WIKI-COMMONS - Hi-tech@Mail.Ru photoAre e-watches giving traditional wristwatches a run for their money?

Off to a flying startWith talent, inspiration and a bit of family history, this first-year photography student is a rising star

“Snowbirds Flying High,”

Dunn’s win-ning photo.

JAYME DUNNsubmitted

Jayme Dunn

BONNIE RATCH-

FORD submit-ted photo

Clocking in with smart-watches

viewpoints6 THE VOICE, THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015 EDITOR SANDY POWLIK

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theVoiceBig kidstuff these days

Binge-watcher comes back to reality

Convenient coffee costs the planet If you have a Keurig at home, it’s time

to pack it away and never use it again.In recent years, K-Cup coffee

machines have become a staple in a lot of North American homes. Almost 40 per cent Canadian households have a K-Cup brewer and use K-Cups.

People love K-Cups because they serve quick and convenient coffee, but not everyone is aware of the harm that the K-Cups cause to the environment.

After using a K-Cup, do people recycle the coffee pod? If they do, do they recycle the pods in the right way? What’s more, a used K-Cup coffee pod consists of four parts: coffee grounds, an aluminum cover, a piece of filter paper and the plastic body. How many people really separate the parts and recycle them with care and patience?

Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. says on its website that its current K-Cup packs are not recyclable, but it promises to produce 100 per cent recyclable packs by 2020. However, John Sylvan, inventor of K-Cups said in a CBC interview, “I don’t care what Green Mountain says. You can’t recycle that package.”

True, it only takes one to two minutes to make a cup of Keurig coffee. However, people should decide which one is more important – saving time or saving the planet.

In case people need another reason to say no to Keurig, K-Cup coffee is expensive.

A 16-pack of Starbucks K-Cups costs $15.77 at Walmart, while a bag of Starbucks ground coffee, which makes on average 30 cups, costs $11.97.

Furthermore, K-Cups are very small. People who

like really strong coffee or a lot of it, will need more than one pod. So, these coffee lovers have to spend even more. The price quickly adds up to almost $2 a cup. Why not just buy the coffee directly from a coffee shop? Tim Hortons sells a medium-sized coffee for about $1.70, and it’s just as fast, if not faster.

Maybe what people really need to do is get up a few minutes earlier to start the coffee maker. Those few sacrificed minutes can help make a huge difference to our environment.

Here’s what I’ve learned from far too many a bleary-eyed, TV marathon morning-after:

The art of binge-watching requires careful scheduling and a healthy dose of self-discipline. But just like any guilty pleasure, binge-watching can still be enjoyed responsibly.

When sites like Netflix take you seamlessly from one episode to the next without so much as a click of a button, it can be tough to muster the will to exit out of your browser when you’re struck with Frank Underwood’s imposing glare on House of Cards. As you spend hour upon hour viewing the latest season of Orange is the New Black, your bedroom may insidiously morph into Litchfield Penitentiary.

Okay, so maybe I’m exaggerating for the sake of effect, but what I’m trying

to say is obsessive streaming can bleed into your real life in pervasive ways. This is why it’s important to

structure stream-ing around your life –not the other way around.

My binge-watch-ing journey began in 2007 before the widespread popularity of Netflix and the advent of video-on-demand cable services

such as Shomi and CraveTV. Most of my streaming was done via foreign websites with horribly pixelated quality.

The struggle to follow series that

didn’t air on television resulted in one particular winter break spent almost entirely in front of the family desktop. Back in eighth grade, the worst things I could be avoiding were friends and family – but this was before the demands of work and post-secondary.

This summer, when Orange is the New Black’s second season was released for streaming, I knew I couldn’t just drop the ball on real life in favour of holing up in a fictional nar-rative, regardless of how compelling it may be. Instead, I structured my streaming around my busy work schedule and social life.

I may not have had the bragging rights to say I’d gotten through the season in a single night, but I did have something much more valuable to claim – a life outside of fiction.

When I was 18, I was kind of a big deal. At least, I got my share of accolades for my

consistently high GPA, music solos and awards, coaching and tutoring and just being a pretty decent kid. But my goodness, if young people aren’t out saving the world and standing up to big evil companies who want to rape and pillage Mother Earth today!

Environmentally active youth in Canada are busy today – more pipelines than half-pipes, more tar sands than sand boxes, more coal trains than Coltrane. I am positively impressed.

What brought this to my attention is Luke Wallace. As part of Langara’s environmental studies spring seminar series, the college showed a documen-tary by Wallace, 21, this week. Wallace, a Langara alumnus and folk musician, made a film last July detailing how B.C.’s communities and coastline would be impacted by the Northern Gateway Project. He not only made a documentary, One Big Coast, that packs a pressing environmental punch, but he also recorded the film’s

soundtrack, The Kitimat LP. How the heck does a 21-year-old know how to make a documentary? And one that has to be heavily informed on such serious and wide-reaching matters? I decided to look for more shining stars and didn’t get out of Vancouver before coming across Sam Harrison.

Harrison is the freckled, 18-year-old director of the non-profit group, Kids for Climate Action. At 16, the natural leader made such an impact with his speech to the Joint Panel Review opposing the pipeline, he instantly became a social media hero. He has marched in protest against Port Metro Vancouver’s coal exports and is outspokenly charging forward against the fossil fuel industry. Such political participation and he can’t yet vote.

Reading about Harrison led me straight to Kelsey Mech. A recent University of Victoria graduate, Mech already has a jaw-dropping résumé. The current national director of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition also organized and launched UVic’s fossil fuel divestment campaign, was a core organizer for PowerShift BC and last

year took her skills international with the Canadian Youth Delegation.

And shifting from southern B.C., I must point out the 15-year-old supernova, Rachel Parent. The Ontario native has single-handedly taken on Monsanto and become an international voice against GMOs. In 2014 alone, and these are just a few of the events, the food safety activist and Kids Right To Know founder was a keynote speaker at the 52-country- and 400-citywide March Against Monsanto, did a volunteer mission to Kenya and attended the Gandhi, Globalization and Earth Democracy Conference in New Delhi, India.

These emerging environmental leaders make me proud to be Cana-dian and on first glance, anyone will find there are so many out-of-this-world rising superstars. Youth are rockin’ it!

“Maybe what people re-ally need to do is get up a few minutes earlier

OPINIONXIAO XU

OPINIONSANDY POWLIK

OPINIONTANYA COMMISSO

ANNA DIMOFF and MICHAEL LYLYK comic

Issues & ideas 7

By BRYAN Mc GOVERN

That warm fuzzy feeling we get from cuddling might also kill our buzz, literally.

New research conducted at the Uni-versity of Sydney and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has discovered that small levels of oxytocin, the cuddle hormone, can reduce the effects of al-cohol in the brain.

In an interview with Science Daily, Dr. Michael Bowen, lead author of the study, said oxytocin prevents alcohol from accessing the sector of the brain that causes intoxication.

In the study, rats were put into a drunken state and then given a coordi-nation test. Those that were served a combination of alcohol and oxytocin passed the test.

This “sobering-up” effect could lead to the use of the hormone in new treat-ments for alcohol-use disorders that target this mechanism, according to the study.

Langara College biology instructor Chris Conway found the study interest-ing, but ridiculous. He said he worried about the negative effects that intro-

ducing a hormone like oxytocin could have on the human body.

“Tinkering with hormones is always a little bit risky,” said Conway.

Langara College biology department chair Mario Moniz de Sa agreed there are dangers with introducing oxytocin into the fine balance of hormones in the human body.

“You should never play around [with] hormones in your body,” Moniz de Sa said.

According to the study, the sobering effect of oxytocin has yet to be shown in humans. And it will not change blood alcohol level.

The potential of presenting the brain with a hormone grown outside the body could have other effects that con-cern Conway.

“It could be positive in dealing with alcohol but might be negative for other things,” he said.

He also wondered what researchers plan to do with their findings.

“If you’re telling me that the one positive so far is that it reduces the ef-fects of alcohol I would just say stop drinking as much alcohol.”

Paul Sunga, Langara College biology instructor, said the purpose of the re-search is to find all the effects of oxyto-cin in this case.

“All this research in animals and in humans just gives us [a] better base of understanding so we know what these hormones do,” said Sunga.

A new study shows that snuggling counters the bodily effects of alcohol

BRYAN Mc GOVERN photoStudents Joanna Tran and Thomas Jones were spotted cuddling in the Students’ Union Building.

Science shows cuddling really can be a buzz kill

TV bingeing badTurning to the boob-tube to cope with stress doesn’t provide the desired relief

By ETHAN REYES

With whole seasons of content made available immediately like House of Cards, on Netflix,

stressed Langara students may use TV to escape more than ever.

“You’re going to be stressed no mat-ter what,” said Langara general studies student Kelsey Dawes, who said anxi-ety for students is unavoidable.

For admitted ‘binge-watchers’ like Dawes, stress can increase consump-tion of television.

According to a study entitled “Chil-dren’s coping after psychological stress. Choices among food, physical activity, and television,” by Katherine Balantekin and James Roemmich from the Department of Pediatrics at Univer-sity at Buffalo.

“Television is one of the most com-monly reported coping behaviours [for stress],” as it provides an effective es-cape mechanism, said the study. Only easily stressed children who watched above-average levels of television in-creased their viewing times when stressed further.

The study shows that television also kept the children from exercising, a proven stress reducer.

Dawes said that while she does hold movie marathons to relax, she also em-phasises the importance of spending time with a trusted group of friends.

“For big things that really affect your life… it’s good to have a support sys-tem,” said Dawes, who found hers in her church youth group. She said that even her youth pastor watches too much television from time to time.

“He’s 27 but he watches Once Upon a Time,” said Dawes. “He worships it; it’s absolutely hilarious.”

By TANYA COMMISSO

Students can cut back their irritability and lack of sleep by pushing back the screen time before bed, according to experts.

A study posted on the National Sleep Foundation website suggests that pushing back school start times to 8:30 a.m. can help to combat sleep deprivation among teens and students.

If school begins any earlier, teens’ sleep patterns are disrupted.

Telsa Atkinson, an arts and science diploma student at Langara College, attends a history class at 8:30 a.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays. She said she finds the start time to be the happy

medium between too early and too late.“I find that I’m sharper when I get up

around 7 a.m. to make it for my 8:30 a.m. class,” she said. “If I sleep in any more or less, I end up feeling foggy in my classes.”

Based on studies conducted on both animals and people, sleep deprivation is linked to increased irritability.

Irritability can lead to aggressive behaviour, said psychology professor Ralph Mistlberger, who runs the Circa-dian Rhythms and Sleep Laboratory at Simon Fraser University.

“If you look at studies done on rats, they’re more likely to take a bite out of your finger when they’re deprived of sleep,” Mistlberger said.

Mistlberger said he suggests that avoiding bright light emitted from laptops and smartphones two hours before bed is an effective method of sleep hygiene training – a method of behavioural practice designed to promote better sleep quality.

He recommended downloading computer applications that adjust mon-itor brightness to reflect the time of day. For example, f.lux dims your screen to a warm tone during the evening.

“Light exposure is the worst thing about modern life,” he said, citing light as responsible for regulating sleep in the morning and disrupting the natural sleep-wake cycle at bedtime.

THE VOICE, THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015EDITOR JES HOVANES

Unexpected effects of the everyday

More sleep means less aggressionKept-awake rats bit more researchers than their well-rested friends

A student takes a nap on a bench at Langara College.

TANYA COMMISSOphoto

1 Causes decreased

performance at

work and school

2 Increases the risk of

heart problems and

migraines

3 Is related to

obesity, diabetes,

hypertension and

depression

Source: National Sleep

Foundation

SLEEPdeprivation

8 portssTHE VOICE, THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015 EDITOR CHARLOTTE DREWETT

Bronze at nationalsBadminton Falcons played hard in Halifax, N.S.By BAILEY NICHOLSON

Three star players from the Lang-ara Falcons badminton team are bringing home bronze medals after a cross-country trip to Ca-

nadian Collegiate Athletic Association Badminton National Championship.

This year’s championship games took place March 5 to 7 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where 48 college students from across Canada competed. Langara players Eric Chiu and Imran Wadia partnered to win bronze in men’s dou-bles, while Matthew Chan won bronze in men’s singles.

Falcons’ badminton team head coach Marc Petreman said he is proud of his players and that they were up against some steep competition.

“It was sort of like junior hockey players against [the] NHL,” Petreman said. “You can’t always pull off a gold medal in these, you never know who you’re going to be up against from the other provinces.”

This was Chan’s third time compet-ing at nationals and he said it would probably be his last time playing for

Langara. Chan said that a slipped disk in his back affected how well he was able to play and that he was a little dis-appointed with how he placed.

“I’m definitely not bitter about los-ing,” he said. “It just would have been nice if I could have walked away with the gold myself.”

In addition to their separate games, Chan, Chiu and Wadia came together to compete as a team and represent B.C. for the Pacific Western Athletic Association (PACWEST) team, along with players from Vancouver Island University and Kwantlen Polytechnic University. PACWEST lost the gold medal to the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association team, but were proud to take silver, according to Petreman.

“We were really happy. It was look-ing like we were going to be bronze but we pulled off a good win against Alber-ta in the semi-finals,” he said.

Although no Langara Falcon left Halifax with a gold medal, the experi-ence of competing is what matters at the end of the day, according to Chiu.

“It’s all about meeting new people and having fun,” he said.

BONNIE CHENG photoFrom left: Imran Wadia, Matthew Chan and Eric Chiu sporting their bronze medals at nationals.

Title defense not so easy

By SARA RABEY

Even though the Langara Falcons-men’s basketball provincial win-ning streak was quashed last

weekend, a wild card spot means they’ll still get a chance at the national title — giving them motivation to push themselves even harder than before.

The men’s basketball team went into the Pacific Western Athletic Associa-tion championship with hopes of win-ning for the third time in a row, but lost 82-76 to the Vancouver Island Universi-ty Mariners.

The two teams were tied 58-58 head-ing into the fourth.

According to Falcons head coach Paul Eberhardt, the team struggled of-fensively and were having difficulty scoring in the fourth quarter.

“Once we got down six, we were chasing them the rest of the way,” Eb-erhardt said.

Elliot Mason, Falcons player of the game, out shot everyone by at least 10 points, with a total of 29 points. Mason felt he had a great game, but failed to execute in the fourth quarter when it

really mattered, he said. “I really need to take control better

instead of leaving it to our rookie point guards. It’s unfair for me to put that kind of pressure on them,” Mason said. “I kind of need to take more control and lead the team a bit better. So I’ll do that at nationals.”

Falcons’ Mason and Montell Lind-gren were both selected for the all star tournament team for their great play.

Lindgren said it hurt to lose the tour-nament, but getting the silver medal was motivation to work even harder for nationals.

Eight teams will meet at the CCAA Men’s Basketball National Champion-ship. The winner from each of the five provincial conferences — Ontario, Quebec, Atlantic Canada, Alberta and British Columbia — along with the team hosting the nationals event. Each year two wild cards are up for grabs to complete the eight. This season the wild cards went to B.C. and Alberta, so even though the Falcons came in sec-ond, they are able to compete.

“We’ve got good experience. We’ve been there the last two years. We won last year, so we want to defend our na-tional championship,” Eberhardt said. “Hopefully we’ll go there and bring back the gold.”

The championship will be held on March 19 to 21 at the Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ont.

By ANNA DIMOFF

As golfers hit the greens this sea-son, strengthening the muscles involved in getting the perfect

swing is an important step to avoid in-jury, according to local experts.

After the winter season, golfers need to make sure that their bodies are balanced and strong to endure the stress placed on their joints, so “there won’t be any deficiencies within their muscles that will be used to swing the club,” said Brent Day, a kinesiology in-structor at Langara College.

Anthony Agtarap, the founder of En-gineered Bodies Strength & Condition-ing, focuses on general training for in-creased strength and proper movement techniques with his clients in the golf performance program.

“They turn into really good strong movers,” said Agtarap. “They’re able to take all that strength and power that they’ve developed in the training pro-gram and put it to their swing.”

Within his program, Agtarap often works with clients to correct certain aspects of movement that are causing them pain. He attributes this pain to repetitive motion.

“If they only do this golf-specific training they have complaints of shoul-der injuries, lower back pain, like chronic so they’re always in pain,” he said. “But if they train as a more gen-eralist, those common inju-ries, they’re miti-gated.”

Yin yoga, which helps increase mobility by hold-ing relaxing poses for longer, is a popu-lar choice for clients who golf or play tennis, according to Deanna Spadafo-ra, a yoga instructor with Vancouver Corporate Yoga.

“They tend to find relief from that because they’ll be twisting in the oppo-site way of what they usually do and it starts to lengthen out the muscles that are getting chronically tight,” she said.

Day also spoke of the benefits of stretching through yoga. He said yoga helps to increase the range of motion and flexibility in athletes “so there isn’t any extra stress placed on the joints and muscles used.”

Jim Sutherland, a recreational golf-er who’s been participating in the sport for about 15 years, said he recognizes the movements that cause lower back pain and the subtle differences in his swing when things are working.

“When I’m not hitting the ball well I quickly realize that usually one of the reasons is my shoulders are round,” Sutherland said.

Second place at provincials won’t stop men’s basketball team from working toward Canadian championship

Yoga, stretching and strength training are a few ways golfers can prepare their bodies for the season

Basic movements such as touching his toes, stretching his shoulders and rotating his back, are a few things Jordan Kidlark, a long-time amateur golfer, does to warm up.“I just do the basics and keep loose and limber so I don’t pull anything.”

ANNA DIMOFFphoto

LANGARA GOLF COURSE7:30 a.m. to dusk

FRASERVIEW GOLF COURSE7:30 a.m. to dusk

MUSQUEAM GOLF & LEARNING ACADEMY8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

POINT GREY GOLF & COUNTRY CLUBFirst light to dusk

McCLEERY GOLF COURSE 7:30 a.m. to dusk

MARINE DRIVE GOLF CLUB8 a.m. to dusk

SHAUGHNESSY GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB7:30 a.m. to dusk

Source: course websites

GOLFTEE TIMES

SARA RABEY photoLangara men’s basketball team will defend their national championship title in Hamilton, Ont. March 19 to 21.

Stretch into early golf season to avoid injury

“You can’t always pull off a gold medal in these, you never know who you’re going to be up against from the other provincesMARC PETREMAN

BADMINTON HEAD COACH